Because if we're going to try and stop the misuse of our favorite comics and their protagonists by the companies that write and publish them, we've got to see what both the printed and online comics news is doing wrong. This blog focuses on both the good and the bad, the newspaper media and the online websites. Unabashedly. Unapologetically. Scanning the media for what's being done right and what's being done wrong.

Monday, October 22, 2018

Archie cancels a Marvel digest they'd published

IDW's not the only one whom Marvel arranged to publish some of their material under license. There's also Archie, who were publishing some kind of anthology featuring their characters too, and now, that's been cancelled, for reasons we can likely guess, before 2 more issues were intended to debut:

Newsarama has learned that Archie Comics' Marvel Comics Digest series is being cut short, with this August's #8 serving as its final issue.

Originally launched in June 2017, Archie's Marvel Comics Digest contained reprinted material and was intended to expand Marvel's "reach and exposure" according to VP of Sales David Gabriel - utilizing Archie's popular digest format and distribution channels outside the direct market such as to large chain retailers.

Archie solicited Marvel Comics Digest #9 and #10, but cancelled both of those earlier this week.

It's not difficult to guess it wasn't selling well, or they would've at least sent the last 2 to press. Could this sum up where IDW's own books licensed from Marvel are heading? It tells how Marvel's fallen, and by extension where any company they're doing a joint project with could be headed too. When the stories are bad modern ones, you can't be surprised if it won't sell any better under Archie's management than under Marvel's own.

My impression is that conventional format Archie comics (that is, 32-page magazines), sold in comic book specialty shops, had been rebooted and had gone full PC and SJW, with scripts by Mark Waid and Nick Spencer, and "realistic" art by Fiona Staples. But the digests (which are still sold at some grocery store check-out counters) are mostly reprints of kid-friendly stuff from the 1980s and earlier.

About me

I'm Avi Green

From Jerusalem, Israel

I was born in Pennsylvania in 1974, and moved to Israel in 1983. I also enjoyed reading a lot of comics when I was young, the first being Fantastic Four. I maintain a strong belief in the public's right to knowledge and accuracy in facts. I like to think of myself as a conservative-style version of Clark Kent. I don't expect to be perfect at the job, but I do my best.